Time Off

The Galapagos Islands, some 600 miles off the coast of Ecuador, rank among the world’s most distinctive and abundant wildlife destinations. Roughly 9,000 species live here and in surrounding waters. The mostly uninhabited isles are like a natural-history museum, except the animals aren’t stuffed—they’re wild. Exploring the Galapagos, I often felt as if I was walking in an exotic zoo without cages.

In any season, few Appalachian vistas can rival the views from the mile-high Blue Ridge Parkway, which connects Virginia’s Shenandoah highlands with North Carolina’s Great Smokies. When I visited, the freshly unfurled leaves of oaks and maples were green. The flowering tulip poplars appeared yellowish-green. Pollen fluff floated on air through the slanting sun. In the distance, bluish layers of the mountainsides were festooned with flowering white dogwood and blooming pink redbud.